It is now well known in the medical profession and the general public that blood collected in a blood bank from a large number of donors may be contaminated by contaminants such as bacteria, virus, parasites and/or fungus obtained from even a single donor. While screening of donors has done much to alleviate this problem, the screening of donors can and does miss occasional donors whose blood is unfit for use. When this occurs and the unfit blood is mixed with otherwise usable blood, the entire batch must be discarded for transfusion purposes. Because of this problem, the present invention has been devised to attenuate any bacteria, virus (including the AIDS HIV virus) parasites and/or fungus contained in blood contributed by a donor to the point that any such contaminant is rendered ineffective for infecting a normally healthy human cell, but does not make the blood biologically unfit for use in humans. Similar problems exist with respect to treatment of other body fluids, such as amniotic fluids. The treatment method and system is also applicable to mammals other than humans.
In addition to the above, there is a need for methods and systems for the treatment of blood and other body fluids both in in-situ processing wherein the treated blood and/or other body fluids are withdrawn from the body, treated and then returned to the body in a closed loop, recirculating treatment process that is located near but outside the patient's body, or the treatment can be effected through implanted treatment system components.
In co-pending United States application serial No. 07/615,800 entitled "Electrically Conductive Methods and Systems for Treatment of Blood and Other Body Fluids with Electric Forces"-Steven Kaali and Peter M. Schwolsky, inventors, filed concurrently and co-pending with this application, a similar treatment method and system employing direct current excitation potentials is described and claimed. The disclosure of co-pending application Ser. No. 07/615,800 hereby is incorporated into this application in its entirety.